snl

February 8, 2016

snl

February 8, 2016

Thank you to Brady Quirk and the entire HR department for a fabulous Teach SPS night!!

Blended, Ch.4, part 2, Blended Learning Teams

How do you know what kind of group you should use to deploy a blended-learning project? Classroom-level projects that may lead to small changes need a lightweight, functional team, as these changes may only impact one grade level or department. However, if you want to bring about disruptive innovations, those changes that may impact the entire school, you want teams with members who think beyond the immediate classroom.

At the classroom level, teachers can implement station rotations and flipped lessons. A functional team may simply conduct online research to see how others have made these adjustments. If the solution impacts other classes or teachers, lightweight teams can bridge the communication between the grade levels or departments involved via emails and site collaborative meetings.

Heavyweight teams are good for problems such as redefining teacher roles or rethinking the bell schedule when implementing blended-learning solutions. If a district wants to change from Carnegie units to competency-based standards, this would indicate the need for heavy lifting. An important aspect of choosing members for these heavyweight teams is to recognize when you need to bring in those expert voices from outside of your school.

Dave Whitham will be in contact with your Site Testing Coordinator (STC) soon, with initial planning details. In the meantime, please contact him via email at dlwhitham@spsmail.org or extension 33327 if you have questions.